The Future Of Juice WRLD’s Legacy: 3,000 Unreleased Songs, Celebration

Juice WRLD’s music has continued to find commercial success years after his death, following an overdose. Now, his record label is deciding what to do with the thousands of unreleased songs he left behind.

The Chicago-born rapper quickly rose to fame starting in 2017.

One of his biggest and earliest hits, “Lucid Dreams” with production by Nick Mira, was originally released on SoundCloud. It caught the attention of major record labels. Juice WRLD, born Jarad Anthony Higgins, then signed with Grade A Productions and Interscope Records in 2017. After that, Juice released his debut studio album Goodbye & Good Riddance in 2018 which includes songs like “Armed & Dangerous” and “Lean Wit Me.” His fanbase grew into the millions across countries worldwide.

But Juice WRLD was arguably as adored as he was tormented.

Often rapping about depression, substance abuse and anxiety, Juice has been called a voice for the young generation and therapist to millions of kids. He passed away days after his 21st birthday, following a drug overdose.

According to his label, Juice left behind a trove of unreleased music, including about 3,000 unreleased songs. Some are already leaked, and others are scattered across studios worldwide where Juice recorded while visiting.

A question, now, remains: what will become Juice WRLD’s legacy, and what will be done with his music?

Legacy: What’s Next For 3,000 Unreleased Songs

There are currently two main plans: future posthumous music releases and hosting an annual celebration of life in honor of Juice WRLD.

Lil Bibby, born Brandon Dickinson, is a Chicago rapper-turned-executive who launched record label Grade A Productions in 2017 with his brother George “G-Money” Dickinson. Grade A signed Juice WLRD shortly after launching, and Bibby became Juice’s manager. Now, much of Juice’s music is left in the Grade A team’s hands.

“Legacy means what you leave behind, what people remember you by,” Bibby said. Now, he and the Grade A team are deciding how to carry Juice’s legacy forward while staying as true to him as they can.

“He left behind a lot of music. He left his fans with a ton of music. People just remember him for being a super nice and kind person. I knew him for four or five years,” Bibby said. “He was one of the nicest people I ever met.”

Grade A faces the problem of the posthumous album, which has been prominent lately as albums like Pop Smoke’s 2021 Faith felt uncharacteristic to his style, outraged fans, and stirred controversy around issues with posthumous albums.

There are currently two posthumous Juice WRLD albums. Legends Never Die released in 2020, with songs like “Righteous,” “Smile” with The Weeknd, and “Tell Me U Luv Me” with Trippie Redd. The album also included various audio clips in memorial of Juice. Fighting Demons, the most recent posthumous release, dropped March 2022. Neither album outraged fans for veering too far from his character, and both found commercial success.

But choosing what and when to drop music is a complex equation.

“I try to go off the feeling, gauge the fans—what do they want? What do they feel?” Bibby said. “What would Juice want? Where is music going? Music changes every year, and this is music that was recorded three, four, five years ago. So, I try to think about all this stuff when I’m putting together music.”

It’s also important to consider timing music drops around other releases. For example, when the HBO documentary Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss came out late 2021, Bibby wanted new releases to “fit the vibe of the documentary.”

“Now, I’m feeling like the fans want a fun Juice. Juice wasn’t always sad and in his feelings. Sometimes, he’d make happy music,” he said. “Every day was a new show. Like, he would get in an argument with his girlfriend one day, and then he would go in the studio and make five love songs to try to make up and play for her so she’d be happy.”

Working with Juice’s music is also a personal and emotional experience since Bibby was close to him. “It’s always tough listening to him [talk about those problems], but I listen to Juice, probably every day of my life,” he said.

With summer approaching, Bibby said he feels like fans are craving upbeat music right now.

Beyond the Music: Juice WRLD Day

When it comes to carrying Juice’s legacy forward, Bibby doesn’t want to just focus on the music but the soul of Juice’s music: its rawness and restorative power related to mental health. The Grade A team plans to host an annual event, Juice WRLD Day, that’s a “a celebration of his life” and place for his fans to come together.

“Juice went through a lot with depression, anxiety, drug addiction. So, my goal is to help the kids that’s going through that… because they all said he was a therapist for them,” he said. “I feel like it’s a big problem going on in the world that don’t nobody know how to explain.”

Depression remains one of the toughest mental illnesses to treat successfully. Even for psychiatric disorders where medications are available, the field is trailed by a violent history of eugenics and unethical behavior.

The first iteration of Juice WRLD Day happened December 2021 at Chicago’s United Center, exactly two years and a day after his passing. It served as the global launch event for Fighting Demons, Juice’s second posthumous album. Grade A plans to host an annual gathering, whether it’s timed around an album release or not.

Juice WRLD’s lyrics continue to establish him as a musical genius.

His words often reveal a deep vulnerability, including being open about mental health struggles, substance issues, and personal demons while leaning into positivity and empowering messages. He coined 999, for example. The number “represents taking whatever hell, whatever bad situation, whatever struggle you’re going through, and turning it into something positive and using it to push yourself forward,” Juice explained in a 2018 interview with MTV News.

Though his work has yet to be broadly proclaimed as the canon of lyric and poetry that it is, his literary techniques and tools were endlessly creative.

“He put everything in the music. So, if you would wanna know anything about Juice, he has thousands of songs, and he put every little thing in the music,” Bibby said. “Whatever he was going through, if you wanna know anything, it’s there.”